


Marked

by alpha_raeken



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Hurt Stiles, M/M, Possessive Theo, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, season five AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-04
Updated: 2016-12-04
Packaged: 2018-09-06 09:45:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8745388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alpha_raeken/pseuds/alpha_raeken
Summary: Stiles stared at the stupid mark that rested along his ribs on his left side. He knew what it meant. “It’s wrong.” his denial rung hollow in the bathroom as Stiles let his shirt slide back down. There was no way it was right.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Another fic I've had sitting unfinished in my folder. Finally got the motivation to edit and put it at a stopping point.
> 
> I kind of really love getting inside of Stiles's mind (I'm sure that's rather obvious at this point).

Stiles stared at the stupid mark that rested along his ribs on his left side. He knew what it meant. “It’s wrong.” his denial rung hollow in the bathroom as Stiles let his shirt slide back down. There was no way it was right.

_Theo Raeken_

The words were perfectly legible; they were not open for interpretation like most. He didn’t have the first words, a symbol, a description or anything that could be twisted into something else. Stiles couldn’t deny them. There was no denying a name.

Somehow Theo Raeken was his soulmate. His hands shook slightly as he reached into his pocket and pulled his phone out. Stiles closed his eyes as the phone rang and he waited for it to pick up. “Stiles?” Derek sounded confused. His voice was rough from the late hour. “What’s the matter?”

“Werewolves can’t smell their soulmate, can they? There isn’t like a thing where you guys can sniff them out or something, right?” the words practically tripped over themselves to get out, “I mean that would be cheating of some sort if you could just sniff out your soulmate while the rest of us normal humans stumble around trying to figure out what our marks mean and it isn’t—”

“Breathe, Stiles. What is this about?” Derek sounded clearer; he sounded like the same exasperated Derek that Stiles knew and silently missed. “Why are you calling me at…four in the morning?”

Stiles winced but shrugged it off, “Just answer the question. Seriously, Derek, I need to know.” He swallowed, “ _Please, Derek._ ”

The only thing on the other end was silence. Stiles could feel his nerves starting to fray the longer Derek didn’t respond. He opened his mouth to break the silence when, “Not completely. We’re like everyone else with soulmate marks.” Stiles took a shaky breath as he listened, “A werewolf would really have to look for the difference to signal the fact but it isn’t an instant knowing. There is something else there, a kind of  _mine_  quality to the scent but that only really becomes apparent when you know to look for it.”

It was better than nothing. He leaned back against the wall and gripped his phone. The answer could have been better and more along the lines of:  _Of course not Stiles. Your soulmate has to identify you by their mark only_.

He should have known nothing was going to be that easy.

“I take it your mark appeared recently. Is your soulmate a werewolf?” Derek asked softly, “Is that what you’re worried about? You could be wrong. You know how marks are.”

“I don’t care if my soulmate is a werewolf or a banshee or a kitsune or a human. That isn’t it and there isn’t a question about who my soulmate is…I have a name of all things.” Stiles sighed in annoyance, “It’s…everything going on and I don’t think we can trust him. I’m going out of my mind.”

There was something rustling on the other side of the phone, “A soulmate is your perfect match.” Derek breathed, “It’s the one who completes you, who compliments you. There is a reason he is your soulmate and that you have a name of all things letting you know _exactly_ who belongs with you is incredible. People search their whole lives for their match and never find them. Finding your soulmate is a blessing, Stiles, that not everyone gets.” There was a softness to his words, a hint of pain and wistfulness, that made Stiles feel guilty.

Stiles could remember his parents together, soulmates who loved each other dearly, when he was little. And he could remember how his Mom’s death crushed his father, how his Dad’s mark went dark and faded. “I know.” He felt guilty at his thoughts against his soulmate but there was something niggling in the back of his mind.

Theo’s arrival along with all of the horrible shit going on seemed wrong. There was a warning bell going off in his head and he didn’t think he could afford to ignore it.

“Maybe you should give him a chance?” Derek’s suggestion had Stiles shaking his head and frowning to himself. “You don’t have to trust him completely but give him a chance and see what he does with it. It’s possible that after everything that’s happened since you learned of the supernatural it’s easier to believe the worst.”

It was better then what Scott had been saying and that was without his friend knowing Theo’s name was branded on Stiles’s body. Now there was no way on Earth he was taking his fucking shirt off in front of anyone.

The thought of Malia had him wincing. She would know. There was no way he could hide it from her and Stiles  _knew_  she’d break it off in an instant. They had been waiting to see if his mark would match hers and usually soulmates received their marks closely together.

“Yeah…a chance. Maybe a chance.” He pushed away from the wall and headed into his bedroom. “Sorry for waking you.”

“It’s fine, Stiles. I’m always willing to listen or just talk. Everything else ok there?”

Stiles thought about telling Derek about the Doctors, the chimeras, Scott drifting away…Donavan. “Yeah. Just anxious about my mark that’s all. Everything ok there?”

“It is.” Derek sounded lighter. Stiles could hear the small smile in Derek’s voice. “I needed a break. I haven’t had one in a long, long time. It’s nice.”

“Good. That’s great.” He grinned as he stared at the board in front of him before his mind slipped back to the heart stopping thought he’d had after seeing his mark, “Why couldn’t it have been  _you_?” his voice slipped into a melancholy kind of tone and Stiles wished desperately to bite the words back but it was far too late for that.

The silence on the other end had him wincing before Derek finally replied, “You wouldn’t want me to be your soulmate, Stiles. I would be horrible for you, for anyone. You deserve better.”

Derek’s words had pain shooting through him at the very thought of all the horrible things, the horrible people, who had happened to Derek over the years and Stiles hated them for the damage they’d left in their wake. Despite the rocky start their friendship had there was no way Stiles wanted Derek to have anything but happiness in his life. “You wouldn’t.” he protested, “Derek I couldn’t be that lucky. Whoever has you as a soulmate hit the jackpot they just don’t know it yet.”

Instead of addressing Stiles’s words Derek moved back to the original conversation, “Stiles this werewolf, whoever he is, is  _your perfect match_. He’s going to challenge you; he’s going to fill in all those empty spaces. Give him a chance for yourself. He belongs to you just as much as you belong to him. Whoever he is he’s been looking and waiting for his soulmate just like everyone else.”

Stiles bit his lip and twisted the end of his hoodie with his free hand, “I’ll try…”

“Don’t try, Stiles. You deserve to be happy especially after everything. Please give him a chance. Don’t pass up something so wonderful because you’re scared. He might surprise you.”

Part of Stiles missed the grumpy, wall slamming Sourwolf he hid in his house while Derek was wanted but a larger part preferred this version of Derek. One a little less burdened even if Stiles still loved driving him insane any chance he got. “Alright. Take care, man.”

“You too, Stiles. Good luck with your mate.”

Mate. The supernatural creature equivalent to a spouse and soulmate.

The line went dead. “I’m fucked.” He muttered to himself as he crawled into his bed and stared at the ceiling. “I’m so horribly fucked.” It took him hours before he finally slipped into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

Stiles jerked awake, coughing and desperately trying to inhale clean air, as his eyes darted around taking in the sight of flames dancing around the parking lot. The air was hot and thick; it was coiling and bitter on his tongue.

Theo stared down at him, blood on his face and lips, as Stiles blinked and choked. “The body.” Stiles felt something sink in his stomach at Theo’s words, “The body is gone.”

The crackle of fire had Stiles glancing around at his overturned Jeep, the fire and blood. Moving to sit up he winced and gasped as pain flared up his side. Slowly his hand moved down to press against his side and when he removed it his hand was wet with blood.

 _Fuck my horrible fucking luck_ he thought faintly.

“Stiles?” Theo’s brow pinched in concern as he crouched down next to him, “You’re bleeding.”

“So are you.” His voice was rough and Stiles swallowed while wishing desperately for a glass of water or something to soothe the scratchy feeling in his throat. He’d kill for a drink of pretty much anything at this point.

Theo shrugged the comment off and moved over, fingers curling around the bottom of his shirt and pulling it up before Stiles could wrap his mind around  _why_  that was a bad idea. It didn’t register until Theo’s entire body went rigid and Stiles stared into wide, glowing eyes.

“Stiles…” the tone was reverent as fingers brushed against skin that was definitely  _not_  where he was injured.

 _Oh no_. _Oh no no no no no._

He clenched his eyes shut and struggled to control his breathing. This was not happening. Theo wasn’t supposed to know until Stiles knew  _his_   _fucking soulmate_ could be trusted and he didn’t fucking know. This was one of the worst possibilities of how Theo could find out but it was too late and there was no way to take back the last few minutes.

“ _You’re_   _mine_.” The awe was more than evident as Theo traced his fingers over his name and Stiles shivered at his  _soulmate’s_  touch as warmth flared underneath the mark. “Your soul mark is my name.”

Yeah there was absolutely no way he could possibly spin this into something else. There was no lie on Earth to fix the clusterfuck he’d found himself in.

Fuck it all to Hell.

“We need to get you to the hospital.” The abrupt change had Stiles blinking but the pain in his side and the wet feeling of his blood had him agreeing with Theo’s assessment. He really didn’t feel like bleeding out in Deaton’s parking lot. Of all the ways to die after everything he’d survived that would just be pathetic.

Stiles tried to shift away from Theo’s touch to get to his feet but Theo was quick to invade his space. Every single touch and movement was careful, disbelief and awe still evident on Theo’s face despite the addition of worry, as he guided Stiles to his feet.

“ _Fuck_.” Stiles hissed out when the motion pulled at the skin on his side and pain flared violently. “Wow that hurts. That really fucking hurts. Ow.”

“You’re going to need stitches.” Theo breathed out in sympathy, “Can you stand by yourself?”

Stiles arched a brow at him even as pain shot up his side again and he wanted to fall back down on his ass. “Yeah. Poor Roscoe.” He muttered as he looked at his overturned Jeep. Theo snorted at the name and Stiles gave him a narrow-eyed glare, “Don’t laugh at my baby’s name.”

“Let me right  _your baby_  and we’ll see if she’ll run.”

Theo walked right over to the Jeep and Stiles watched with barely concealed admiration at how easily Theo could put his vehicle back on its wheels. The strength of the supernatural creatures around him always left him surprised.

The engine clicked and died.

Clicked and died.

Stiles curled his arm around his injured side, wincing and mentally crossing his fingers the Jeep would start.

It clicked and died again.

“Fuck.” Stiles shifted as Theo climbed out and the flames around the parking lot had him staring at his Jeep. “Can you move it? I don’t want to leave it here…”

“You need to go get—”

“I’m not going anywhere until we move my Jeep. I will not leave Roscoe to burn in Deaton’s parking lot.”

He set his jaw stubbornly and watched Theo stare him down before sighing. “Fine.” It took everything in him to remain standing as Theo put it in neutral before setting about moving it out of the parking lot, down the street and towards where he’d parked his truck.

The fire continued to burn around them as Theo jogged back and as Stiles stumbled along with him, wincing and biting back curses, he found his feet leaving the ground without warning.

“I am  _not_  a damsel in distress!” he twisted in Theo’s arms and immediately regretted it as pain lanced through him. “Ow. Fuck.”

“It’s just faster.”

It was nothing on the way Theo drove them to the hospital. Stiles kept waiting for the wail of sirens and the flash of lights but somehow Theo managed to avoid getting pulled over.

He wasn’t even going to mentally complain about the complete unfairness of the situation as Theo carried him into the Emergency Room calling out for a nurse. The only saving grace would be that Stiles could get away from Theo, they weren’t family, and that would give him a chance to think of how to explain Theo’s fucking name on his side.

“I’m sorry you’re going to have to wait out here.” The nurse was saying as Stiles found himself transferred to a chair so they could take him to one of the rooms and stop him from bleeding all over the place.

Stiles leaned back, sighing, until Theo’s response caught his attention. “I’m his soulmate.”

The nurse blinked at Theo and Stiles winced. “I’ll need proof. Anyone can—”

“My name is branded on his side. The nurse will see it when he gets treated. Does that work?”

“Oh. Of course.”

Which was how Stiles found himself in one of the ER exam rooms with Theo sitting in a chair and a nurse cheerfully stitching up his side as he tried to ignore the horrible tugging sensation of a needle threading through his torn side.

“And of course no lacrosse. You’ll need someone to carry your backpack and books between your classes otherwise you’ll be right back here getting re-stitched until it heals properly. I’m sure you don’t want it to scar horribly.”

Another scar was the least of his worries. He was lucky the only thing he had to show, so far, from this horrible nightmare was a few scars and hospital stays.

He nodded as the nurse continued to list off his restrictions and told him how lucky he was that he hadn’t been cut deeper otherwise he’d need more than a few stitches to fix him up. “We’ll also have to update your file to include your soulmate mark. Do you know when it showed up?”

“Isn’t that personal?” he scowled at her barely unable to bite back a more scathing remark at the mention of the more than obvious soulmate mark branded on his fucking side in plain view of anyone who looked in the room.

Stiles had never felt more exposed than he did in that moment.

“We just like to keep records up-to-date and a soulmate mark can serve as a helpful mark of identification if you get brought in without ID.”

He stared at the wall refusing to look at either of them but Stiles knew Theo could hear his heart pounding in his chest. “I’m not 100% sure when it showed up.” Which was true. It wasn’t like he stared at his side.

The mark could have been there for several days before he would have noticed it with everything going on and the huge fucking distraction that was killing Donavan. Plus the Dread Doctors and the chimeras and stealing bodies that shouldn’t be stolen. It wasn’t a lie. He really had no fucking clue when it had appeared and Theo could shove that up his ass.

“OK.” She finished up his side and stepped away to update his file. Stiles glanced at her and watched as his soulmate mark was recorded for his records along with Theo’s information as his soulmate.

Now if anything happened to him it wouldn’t just be his Dad contacted. Theo would get a call as well. He would get the call first. It made their link even more real and Stiles knew Derek was right, that he should give Theo a chance but he’d wanted to do that at his own speed.

Unfortunately that ship had sailed and crashed into a fucking iceberg before sinking.

The nurse left the room after giving Stiles a pill for the pain and Stiles clutched his bloodied shirt between his fingers as Theo slowly climbed to his feet before approaching the bed he was sitting on. “Not here.” Stiles managed when Theo opened his mouth.

“We are going to talk about it though, right?” the arch of Theo’s brow had Stiles bristling before the nurse walked back into the room with a bright smile on her face.

Stiles tried to drag out the rest of the trip to the Emergency Room but Theo was clearly interested in getting the Hell out of there and before he knew it Theo was leading the way back towards his truck.

It was like walking to the gallows.

“Shouldn’t you have known?” Stiles blurted out, “I mean your mark should have given you some kind of hint.”

Theo paused and glanced back at him, “I haven’t received mine yet.”

“You haven’t?”

Usually it was within months of each other that soulmates received their marks and Theo was older. It would have made far more sense for Theo’s to appear first instead of his.

“The nurse I spoke to mentioned that having contact with your actual mark should trigger mine. I’ll check later. It’s highly likely it’ll show up within twenty-four hours of contact.”

It made sense. He hadn’t been very interested in soulmate marks after seeing the pain his Dad had gone through but it was clearly something he should have paid far more attention to over the years.

“It explains why your scent has been calling to me since I came to Beacon Hills.” Theo commented offhandedly as he opened his door and climbed in without breaking stride. Stiles froze as his mind flashed back to the conversation with Derek when he’d first noticed his mark.

Mechanically he opened the passenger door and climbed in as the truck purred to life.

“Have you known for long?” Theo finally asked after several minutes of silent driving. It wasn’t really that long but Stiles felt unwanted guilt at hiding it from his soulmate of all people.

“Not that long.”

“Were you going to say anything?”

Stiles winced at the question. This was not how someone was supposed to meet their soulmate. It was supposed to be romantic and life-changing not awkward as fuck. “I was.” He managed and hated himself. At least that was also true and Theo wouldn’t call him out on lying.

The truck was filled with silence once more and Stiles idly wondered how things had gone at the school. His phone was back in the Jeep and he wasn’t sure about Theo’s.

“There’s that.” Theo muttered as he turned down the next street and slowed to a stop at a house that was decidedly not Stiles’s. “I figured you’d want to have the rest of this conversation without an audience.”

“What about your parents?”

“They’re not in town.”

Dammit.

Well at least he was rather sure Theo wasn’t going to murder him and hide his body now that they were alone once more. Stiles could vaguely remember hearing about the impossibility of someone killing their soulmate and felt assured that Theo would probably keep his claws to himself.

At least he was guaranteed Theo wouldn’t murder him.

The house was silent when they stepped inside and he reluctantly followed Theo up the stairs. “You can borrow a shirt until I take you home. I’m sure you don’t want to wear something soaked through with blood.”

He did look a bit like a horror movie extra. It wasn’t the first time and Stiles knew it wouldn’t be the last time.

“Bathroom is right there if you want to clean some of that blood off.”

Theo disappeared into another room and Stiles was more than happy to take advantage of a bathroom. He stripped off the shirt, a total loss he knew, before he pulled out a wash cloth and started cleaning himself as best he could.

Certain movements pulled on his stitches and Stiles was quick to adjust to avoid the unwanted pain as he wiped the blood off. It had managed to stain the top of his pants as well and he frowned at the mess.

At this rate all of his clothing was going to end up with some kind of bloodstain and people were going to start really worrying about him.

Theo knocked on the cracked door and poked his head in. His eyes flicked over Stiles’s body and locked on the pants, “Need pants too?”

“Sure. I’ll get everything back to you in the morning.”

He took the shirt, soft with a baseball team logo on it, before finishing with his torso. Stiles quickly dried his damp skin and gingerly pulled the shirt on over his head. A few minutes later Theo was handing through a pair of track pants and Stiles quickly stripped off the bloodied pants.

It was a relief to finally have all of the blood removed and clean clothing on as he padded out of the bathroom only for Theo to pass by him with his own set of clothing. “I’ll just be…downstairs.” Stiles muttered as Theo nodded and closed the door.

A yawn escaped once he’d made it to the couch and with a sigh Stiles sprawled out, resting his head on a pillow, while he waited for Theo to finish upstairs. His eyes drooped as another yawn escaped and it didn’t take long before he was slipping into a light doze aided by the pain pill he’d taken in the ER.

“ _Stiles_?”

He jerked back awake and looked around blurrily. “Theo.” Stiles scrubbed a hand over his face and sighed as he laid back down, staring up at the ceiling and wanting desperately to just pass back out. His mind was foggy enough it wouldn’t take much to drop right back off.

“I found it.”

The words had Stiles frowning and glancing over to see Theo had come to stand in front of the couch. “Found what?”

“My mark.”

Maybe they wouldn’t match? There could be plenty of other Theo Raekens out there that he didn’t know about. It was a total possibility.

But as Theo reached down to tug up the hem of his shirt and Stiles’s eyes landed on the name branded onto Theo’s skin there wasn’t any denying it. Theo didn’t have his full name, thank God, but the  _Stiles_  scrawled there on the opposite side of his body in the same location was undeniable.

Theo’s mark was his nickname.

“Well there’s no denying that, is there?” he murmured staring at his name branded on someone else’s body. Theo Raeken was his soulmate. There was no mistake. His hand absently moved up to touch against where his own matching mark was located.

Stiles regarded his soulmate silently as his mind raced. He still felt like Theo was hiding something from them but his soulmate’s actions had fully supported his earlier words about watching after Stiles.

Had their unknown connection been what had drawn Theo to Beacon Hills years after leaving? Or was it, as Stiles suspected, something else that he hadn’t told them about?

Derek’s words taunted him from his memory as Stiles pulled himself up to look at the mark closer. Wordlessly he reached out, fingers hovering over Theo’s skin, before they were tracing over his name.

_Stiles this werewolf, whoever he is, is your perfect match. He’s going to challenge you; he’s going to fill in all those empty spaces. Give him a chance for yourself. He belongs to you just as much as you belong to him._

“Stiles?”

He looked up and met Theo’s eyes even as they glowed at him. Stiles wondered if Theo was doing it intentionally or if having his soulmate so close, touching his mark, had him further from his humanity and closer to his wolf.

“I just never thought…”  _that I would actually have a soulmate_  was left unsaid. “Guess I should probably give you a chance, huh?” his lips quirked and it earned him an actual expression of fond exasperation.

“That would be nice.” Theo didn’t push and Stiles wondered at that. So far Theo had been very patient with him despite his blatant suspicion from day one. Plus this kind of confirmed the fact that the werecreature in front of him was in fact Theo Raeken and not someone else.

He dropped his hand and Theo pulled his shirt back down. They were going to have to register their marks and it wouldn’t be long before most of Beacon Hills knew that Theo was his soulmate.

The joys of being the Sheriff’s son.

**Author's Note:**

> Hopefully someone enjoys this little Theo/Stiles fic in the midst of a pretty much Stiles-less season six. I might distract myself from that by focusing on finishing some of these other fics/ideas I have saved.
> 
> Also for those curious Stiles is still very much right to be suspicious of Theo but now Theo has a whole new motivation driving him forward now that he's found out Stiles of all people belongs to him.


End file.
